Emotional intelligence, locus of control and self-efficacy as determinants of graduates' self employment in agricultural occupations in South-East, Nigeria

This paper investigated emotional intelligence, locus of control and self-efficacy as determinants of graduates' self-employment in agricultural occupations. Three research questions guided the study. The study adopted an ex-post-factor research design. The study was carried out in south-east, Nigeria which is made up of five states. The target population for the study was all graduates of schools and universities of Agriculture. The sample for the study was 250 graduates randomly selected from the five states. Three instruments were used for data collection. A Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the items on three sets of instruments which yielded reliability indexes of 0.87, 0.84 and 0.85 respectively. The data collected for the study were analyzed using Mean Pearson's r, F-test and Analysis of Variance statistical tools. Findings of the study revealed a strong, positive relationship between emotional intelligence, locus of control, self-efficacy and graduates' self-employment in agricultural occupations. It was recommended among others that a counselling psychology unit be established in schools and faculties of Agriculture to work on the psychological constructs of the students in relation to their profession before graduation.